Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 712
Unaware that the junior behind him was glaring like a killing machine trained by mad professors, Sebius said,
“In the first place, the other club members are all fighting over bringing you in right now. If I didn’t even sign you up, they’d hang me first. Not just hang me, either. I’d get the bookshelf sentence.”
“The bookshelf sentence…? Is that like a bookshelf-shaped table or drawer?”
“No. Not that. The bookshelf sentence. Like hanging or beheading, you know? The bookshelf sentence is our club’s punishment.”
“……”
Lee Han nearly asked what, exactly, the bookshelf sentence was, but decided against it.
It did not sound like the answer would be very enjoyable.
“Our club members came together for the same purpose, but everyone thinks differently. I don’t force people. If they think it’s right, they do it.”
The tone was brusque and indifferent, but as he spoke with Sebius, Lee Han found himself thinking that this senior was actually one of the more decent people in Einroguard.
To begin with, in a magic academy, people with the attitude of Do it if you want, or don’t if you don’t were extremely rare.
Most mages were more like, Do it if you want—so long as it matches what I want…
From that perspective, Sebius, who was saying, Just sign up, then do whatever you want, was a very rare kind of senior.
Once that eased Lee Han’s sense of danger that he might be dragged into some club and imprisoned, his curiosity returned.
I do need to do club activities.
It was not as if Einroguard students joined clubs because they had time to spare.
Of course, there might be a few like that, but fundamentally, students joined clubs because they had goals.
And usually, those goals involved gold coins.
Starting in second year, the cost of entering actual magical research rose steeply, so students could no longer loaf around eating and sleeping like they had in first year.
In fact, Lee Han and his friends, who had only just become second-years, had barely seen any upperclassmen at all.
Not because the Skull Principal’s geas was still in effect, but because the seniors were simply too busy.
Lee Han had even seen seniors bundled up in thick layers and flying off at five in the morning because they were heading to the glacier region.
I wonder how much the Library Club makes.
“Senior. You said you fetch books and get paid for it.”
“That’s right.”
“Could I ask a little more in detail?”
“When we get there, the other members will explain it better.”
Sebius grumbled, but he still answered.
“Usually, we take commissions and fetch books, or else we show a catalog of books we’ve already secured and sell those. We’ve got several club buildings. One on the seventh floor, one near the library… and all the camps are inside the library.”
Lee Han did not ask the amateurish question, Why are there camps inside the library?
He merely nodded quietly.
“When you look at the club buildings, there’ll be commissions posted. You just solve them with members you get along with and divide the gold. Same goes for books you bring back. But selling too cheap or too expensive is forbidden.”
“Selling too expensively is forbidden too?”
Lee Han was surprised by that unexpected statement.
In truth, he understood why selling too cheaply would be banned. From the club’s perspective, if some bratty new member ran wild insisting on selling a hard-won book cheaply, everyone’s income would shrink together.
But banning sales that were too expensive too?
“It’s about making sure the person pays a fair price. The goal isn’t to make sure that person can’t buy the book.”
“That’s an admirable sentiment.”
“I didn’t say it. The president did.”
Sebius was brusque and rough around the edges, but when he spoke of the club president, there was clear respect in his voice.
What kind of person are they?
“The club president is what kind of—”
“Oh. Senior Ileg.”
From farther away, a huge figure appeared: a spectacled bear beastkin.
The man wore priestly robes and had a gentle-looking face, but the body beneath it was anything but gentle. Lee Han found himself worrying that the spectacled bear beastkin’s priest robe might tear apart from the sheer size of the body.
Fortunately, that did not happen. The spectacled bear beastkin approached with a pleased expression and said,
“Sebius. Good to see you. Have you been well?”
“Yes. Have you been well too, Senior? No one has tried to attack you, I hope?”
“It’s rare for anyone to attack a student of the Phoenix Tower.”
The spectacled bear beastkin laughed heartily as he said it, but Sebius replied coldly.
“Club-crazed lunatics will attack even a Phoenix Tower student.”
“Even those people won’t attack a fifth-year.”
“……”
As the atmosphere turned solemn, the spectacled bear beastkin greeted Lee Han.
“Good to meet you. I’m Ileg of House Chagla. A priest of the Shisenza Order, and a fifth-year this year.”
“This junior is that junior.”
“Ah. This junior is that junior?”
“……”
Lee Han could not understand why it was possible for a conversation to function even while he was being referred to only as this junior and that junior.
This doesn’t seem like a very good sign.
“Good to meet you, Wardanaz. Feel free to look around. I don’t particularly want to force members into joining, but the other members don’t quite feel the same.”
Ileg spoke in a low, unhurried voice. Like a proper priest of the Phoenix Tower, he was kind and gentle in manner.
“Senior Sebius was already explaining things to me.”
“If it’s Sebius, then you’re in reliable hands. Ah, right. Would you like to watch us work?”
“Ah, if that’s all right…”
Lee Han did not refuse the club president’s offer.
When the other person showed goodwill, it made life easier later if he showed himself to be sincere in return.
Ileg and Sebius tapped a stone monument located a short distance east of the library entrance with their wands.
At once, the ground beneath the monument opened with a deep rumble.
“This place existed?”
“You wouldn’t know. Only club members are allowed in.”
“Then shouldn’t I be unable to enter?”
“You’ve already been put in as a joining applicant. Probably the same with the other clubs too.”
“……”
Lee Han did not know it, but the official clubs had already finished filing his membership applications.
The fighting happening now was not about whether he would be signed up, but about trying to force the other clubs to give up. His enrollment had already been decided.
With an expression slightly more depressed than before, Lee Han followed the seniors underground.
“KRAAAAGH! KYAAAAGH!”
“?”
At the monstrous shrieks coming from inside, Lee Han flinched.
“Did a monster get in?”
“If a monster had gotten in, do you think it would be this quiet?”
Sebius looked at Lee Han as if asking what kind of nonsense that was.
“That’s probably a book making the noise, Wardanaz.”
“…Pardon?”
Chairman Ileg did not even need to explain further. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lee Han saw it himself: a book rampaging in the middle of the vast underground chamber.
Trapped inside eight layered magic circles, the book was screaming as it went wild.
“I’LL KILL YOU! YOU MAGES!”
“We need to drain more blood.”
“What if the letters get erased?”
“Judging by the bastard’s stamina, it’ll recover plenty. Drain it.”
“Understood.”
STAB!
As the mages swung their weapons, blood sprayed from the individual pages of the book.
“You there, <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero>—surrender! Read out the contents you hold and surrender peacefully!”
“KRAAAGH! KYAAAAGH!”
Despite the mages’ earnest persuasion, the book <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero> did not surrender.
It slammed into the magic circles as if trying to rip them apart, spewing curses all the while.
As a result, the writing inside the book blurred and the illustrations altered, and Ileg looked distressed.
“Everyone. I would like to help. May I assist just this once?”
“President, there’s no need for you to trouble yourself—”
Before the sentence could even finish, Ileg began walking into the magic circles.
Seeing that, Lee Han said in alarm,
“Isn’t that dangerous?!”
To step directly onto a sealing magic circle like that was an extremely dangerous action.
Unless someone had overwhelming resistance to mana like Lee Han, it was something that should absolutely never be done.
“It’s insane, yes. But Senior Ileg is different. You’ll see.”
Sebius watched without panic.
The moment Ileg stepped onto the magic circle, a tremendous force and binding pressure descended on him. It was a powerful magic circle that sealed everything without distinguishing friend from foe.
Ileg chanted and activated magic. Surprisingly, it was divine magic.
Defensive divine magic?
As holy mana wrapped around Ileg, his body became solid like a fortress.
The magic circle lashed at him, tore at him, shoved at him, tried to pierce him, but he did not stop. It was unbelievable durability.
“…!”
At last, when he reached the innermost part of the circle, the book attacked.
“You! MAGE! I’LL KILL YOU!”
“Mr. <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero>. I apologize for the discourtesy. Would you be willing to grant me the right to read you?”
Lee Han was impressed by the courteousness the fifth-year senior was showing.
To try to converse and persuade it in a situation like that.
It was patience on a completely different level from the other seniors—
BANG!
A six-legged shadow monster burst out from inside the book. A murderous voice unfurled from the pages.
“NO ONE WILL EVER READ ME!”
At the same moment, Ileg cast magic as well. Lee Han could feel enhancement spells settling into Ileg’s body.
THUD!
Ileg seized the six-legged shadow monster in one hand and crumpled it straight back into the book.
Then he grabbed the book with both arms and forced it shut by strength alone. <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero> struggled desperately to pry itself open, but it could not break through Ileg’s divine magic.
“Mr. <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero>. I apologize for the discourtesy. Would you be willing to grant me the right to read you?”
“G-G-G-GRKKK!”
“Mr. <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero>—”
“…F-Fine…!”
At last, the book surrendered and went still.
After checking the book for damage, Ileg handed it over to the members with a satisfied expression.
“What a relief. Mr. <The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero> has shown understanding.”
“As expected of the president!”
“……”
For a moment, Lee Han wondered whether he had come to the wrong place.
That thought only grew stronger as he looked at the spectacled bear beastkin priest holding the book in both hands, drenched in blood.
…No. Maybe this is just the average standard for an Einroguard club.
In the end, Lee Han watched the club members hunt, tame, and manage books before returning.
The Library Club’s income definitely did not look bad.
<The Five Summoning Rites of Jigolbiero> alone had a bounty of fifty gold coins on it, and the members happily divided up the proceeds.
“The client is asking whether the fee could perhaps be lowered…”
“What lunatic tries to haggle over the price of a book? Is it one of those Soup Club bastards?”
“Should I tell that person to come inside for a moment?”
“Excellent. They say they’ll just pay.”
It did seem like a slightly insane club, but Lee Han expected the other clubs were probably all similar.
“Lord Wardanaz.”
“Ah. Ratford.”
Lee Han greeted the sight of his friend—whom he had not seen in a long time, though in truth it had not been that long—with obvious warmth.
“How is ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) the Black Turtle Tower?”
“It is miserable and exhausting.”
“If it’s only that bad, then it’s not bad.”
Ratford nodded as if in agreement. Miserable and exhausting was still an acceptable state in Einroguard.
“Lord Wardanaz, have you joined a club?”
“Uh… Well. I suppose you could say I have. What about you, Ratford?”
“I have joined one as well. An acquaintance recommended me.”
“!”
At the words that Ratford had already joined a club, Lee Han looked at Ratford with curiosity.
“What kind of club has you joining already? Is it that good a club?”
“Ah. Would you perhaps like to come take a look?”
“…Wait a second. Is it an official club?”
Lee Han checked first, since if he went to the wrong place he might get kidnapped.
“No. It is an unofficial club.”
“Whew. That’s a relief.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. So what’s the club called?”
“It is the <Teleportation> Club.”
Is it a club for studying space magic?
